As we enter the final 3 days of the basho, the lower division rikishi are facing their final match. For a large number of our “Ones to Watch”, their final match will decide if they exit Osaka with a winning or losing record. In Day 12 action, Hoshoryu battled back to even his score at 3-3 with a win over Sakigake (video below). After a rough period with 3 straight losses in a row, Hoshoryu has battled back to even.
Day 13 Matches
Akua vs Chiyosakae – A 3-3 bracket match, the winner will be kachi-koshi, and the loser make-koshi. Chiyosakae is a 39 basho Makushita veteran who will not be an easy match for Akua.
Ichiyamamoto vs Irodori – Ichiyamamoto takes on Makushita 1 East Irodori in a 5-1 bracket match. Irodori is already likely headed to Juryo, but this match might determine if Ichiyamamoto joins him.
Naya vs Churanoumi – The Makushita yusho playoff match, both rikishi are 6-0 heading into their final match. The winner takes the tournament, the loser gets a nice promotion.
Torakio vs Sekizuka – Neither of these rikishi have a single win. For Torakio this has been a total collapse, and I have to wonder what kind of injury has prevented him from executing really any good sumo for the past 2 weeks.
Shoji vs Komakiryu – Both rikishi are already make-koshi (2-4 bracket), so this match determines how stiff of a demotion is coming to them.
Roga vs Kotomiyakura – Split Jonidan / Sandanme playoff, due to the odd number of undefeated rikishi in both divisions. If Roga wins, there will be a follow-on playoff match later in the tournament to decide the Jonidan yusho.
Terunofuji vs Sadatsuyoshi – Jonidan yusho playoff match, this one may or may not determine the yusho given how the Roga match turns out. Sadatsuyoshi is another young rikishi, who has never before had 6 wins in a tournament, so this is a big moment for him. If Terunofuji repeats his day 11 performance, Sadatsuyoshi will get a rough ride.
Hattorizakura vs Hakuyo – The found someone in Jonikuchi for Hattorizakura to lose to! Hakuyo has been kyujo up until now, but returns for his final match against sumo’s most losing Jonidan.
In Jonokuchi, there is only one 6-0 rikishi, Terasawa. He has been matched with Satsumao, who is the only 5-1 rikishi he has not fought already. If he wins that, he is champion, but if he doesn’t, we are going to have a three-way playoff in Jonokuchi, as this means both of them will be 6-1, and they will be joined by either Hanashi or Tochikamiyama, the two other 5-1 rikishi who will face each other tomorrow.
All playoffs take place on senshuraku.
Torakio may well be hurt, but the real reason for his stagnation is that he doesn’t do anything particularly well. His waist is too high for mawashi battles and he doesn’t have the disposition or skill for slapfests. Hard to see a road forward for him unless he trains like a madman. He’s just not a natural sumotori.
At Ms13, Ichiyamamoto’s only route to promotion would have been to go 7-0. It looks like the Juryo/Makushita line will have the opposite problem from Makuuchi/Juryo. At the moment, there are 3-4 strong promotion claims in the usual Ms1-Ms5 zone, and only Daiseido clearly warrants demotion from Juryo.